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Meyer Lemon & Sour Cream Donuts

July 30, 2009

Lemon and sour cream donuts. For breakfast. For his birthday. For dessert too!

When I asked Bill what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday, he said he'd rather have several of his favorites rather than just one cake. At the time I thought that was a splendid idea except that by saturday night things had begun to pile up and I was starting to look at him sideways. I had to have a good reason to get up early on monday and make these because my night had been short on sleep and full of work and my back was (and still is) feeling pretty broken that morning. Love will make you do funny things. Donuts especially!

I am not going to play it all "no, not me, never" card on you with these: I wanted them too. Oh yes! I would have to be in a body cast to refuse to make or eat plenty of one of them. We like them so much that I doubled the recipe for the party later that evening and when the rain pushed us inside from the back porch, we all gathered around the island and took turns frying these pieces of lemony goodness.

After the recent couple of posts featuring Meyer lemons, some have wondered where the heck I was finding Meyers this time of year in SC. Well, I don't. I've got connections. Sort of. One of the greatest things that come from blogging is not only the opportunity to do something you love but all the wonderful people you meet, whether virtually or in real life. My blogging friend Mary has a very fruitful Meyer lemon tree in San Francisco and she generously sent Veronica and myself a box full. I am holding on tight to the last eight, scheming yet another dessert. Ehehehe.

I think lemons are to me what salt is to others. I have no idea where that came about but where I might forget the salt, I never forget the lemon, either when baking or cooking. I am even more fascinated when it comes to Meyer lemons as everyone picks up different scents and undertone. I always think of mild rosemary when I slice into one. One reader asked what would be the equivalent in France and as far as taste is concerned, I don't think there is one. Now, as far as finding an equally praised citrus, the "citron de Menton" would surely be it. It even has its own festival people!

These donuts are so easy to make it's a crime well, not to make them. Seriously. Wet ingredients, dry ingredients, stir, rest and fry. Tada! These are a real treat as we don't usually eat fried anything but if there is one thing I will not compromise about, it's properly fried lemon and sour cream donuts!

You don't even need a deep fryer to make scrumptious donuts like these! I actually prefer to use a 9-inch cast iron pan for frying. Make sure to bring your oil to the proper temperature and do not overcrowd your pan with too many donut pieces. It brings the oil temperature down and you end up with soggy drippy oily donuts. I like to use a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop for these but 1/4 cup or a 2 spoons will do the trick too. We like to eat them with an extra squeeze of lemon juice and a dusting of powdered sugar. Not that I never thought of dipping them in a lemon glaze before, hmmm...

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder and salt. Reserve.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, sour cream, eggs, zest and lemon juice, and the olive oil, until smooth. Add the reserved flour mixture, and stir with a spatula until the mixture is smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate the batter for about 1 hour.

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large heavy bottomed cast iron pan or Dutch oven until it reaches 325F. Scoop the batter using either 1/4 cup full (you will get less donuts) or a two-tablespoon ice cream/cookie scoop like I did and fry 4-5 at a time without overcrowding your pan (turns the oil temperature down which makes your donuts greasy). Fry each batch for 4-6 minutes, occasionally monitoring the temperature of the oil.

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comments:

Love these-- am a big donut lover! (maybe not for breakfast though, it's just not Asian, heh heh ;)I've seen a few recipes that called for 190C and they come out a little darker than I like-- I think I'll try 160C next time, I like the color on yours :)

You are a woman after my heart! These look sublime. My grandfather sends us boxes of Meyer lemons each year and we treat them like gold. Everything tastes better with Meyer lemon. I can't wait for the next box to give the donuts a try! Beautiful.

I adore meyer lemons with all my heart! my co-worker gave me about 50 of them probably from his overflowing tree and I always run out of ideas of what to do with them :). This is the first time I saw a donut recipe without a yeast and without kneading. Hmm.. I'll have to try it sometime. Thanks for sharing!

My mother has a Meyer lemon tree which I raid constantly when it's bearing fruit! LOVE Meyer lemon. I also love yuzu and miss having easy access to it. These look so delicious. Bill has good taste--I am a donut person too!

Love fried dough sprinkled with confectioner's sugar. I have my meyer lemon juice all nice and frozen in 4 oz packs. Hubby spent two hours squeezing and zesting all of them. Can't wait to churn out more ice cream and maybe some of these doughnuts.

Your donuts look great. I've been dreaming about making donuts for a few days and looking at these I'm tempted to make them over the weekend. Do you think yoghurt would work in place of sour cream? I usually do that for cakes so I'm guessing this should work as well.

Oh my. How wonderful. I wish I received a big basket of these warm little treats for my birthday. I have always wanted to make these. Maybe with a gooey caramel filling. Delicious. Beautiful photographs, as always!

Meyer lemons are a rare treat in Rhode Island. Trader Joe's brings them in, and while they're nothing like the ones you get fresh from the tree, they are delicious. Love the look of these doughnuts -- want to know my birthday???!

I would love these for breakfast! (Manggy, freshly fried pichi-pichi at the Salcedo Market for breakfast would beg to differ ;)) I hardly ever make fried donuts, even though I love them, because I'm scared of frying, especially deep frying...but you make it sound so easy indeed perhaps I'll be trying again soon!

These sound heavenly. I think I would be tempted to squirt lemon curd into the middles!! I kept looking for a photo with a bite taken out until I realized they were normal donuts :) Ah, lucky B-man. Another year older and another year more awesome! xxoo Okay, so bring a bag of these to SF in Sept, okay? ;) weeeeeeee!

Lucky you ! I would have loved these for my birthday... And I totally understand when you say you love lemon, I looove everything that has lemon in it like lemon squares, lemon meringue pie, lemon sorbet... :o)

I've just stumbled across your blog for the first time and what a post to stumble across for a lover of all things lemon...! These dainty little doughnuts sound divine. Recipe duly noted on my 'to do' list for sometime soon.

Oh wow, those look amazing. And while Jen was looking for curd in the middle, I like the idea of a plain unfilled donut hole - lemon everywhere, and less mess and fuss! I hope your back is beginning to feel better too!

I only saw this recipe this afternoon but immediately printed it off and mixed up a batch. Fantastic lemony flavour- even without a Meyer- but unfortunately my scoop was far too large so the middles didn't cook. I was aware this was a risk when I started but I didn't want to wait to track down a small scoop! Impatient? Moi? I will now though. A wonderful excuse to buy more kitchen toys, thanks!

Anonymous: there is no need for cornstarch to make cake flour. For 1 cup of cake flour, take one cup of all purpose and remove 2 tablespoons.So, in theory it would work here but I have never tried it so I can't vouch for it. Let me know if you do!

I meant to come back and let you know that while I didn't have cake flour, I think it was fine. I say "think" because the middle wasn't cooked thoroughly which probably has more to do with the temperature of the oil than anything else. I don't see how you have balls because they get flatted when making in a pan. The flavor was delicious and I pretended the middle was custard instead of raw...which only tasted good while it was fresh.